Horror Sure Bets Best for Libraries

It's December and that means it is time for everyone to start talking about their favorite books of the year.

Tomorrow, I am also presenting the year end "Best Books" webinar for PLA and in that presentation I talk about the importance of including genre lists in your best lists.

As the library world's horror expert, I am here to help you identify the best horror for libraries all year long, so expect to see my personal top 10 of the year soon, but today, I wanted to point you to my two favorite lists for public libraries to use to identify some of the best, sure bet horror titles of the year.

Wait, why did I say best and sure bet? Yes I did. But how are they different? Well, that is the crux of my presentation tomorrow, but very quickly, the resources I will be sharing with you today take into consideration what the reader thinks of as best-- not just the "experts." Sure bets are "proven winners," and nothing says proven winner more actual reader approval.

I have two specific, reader driven horror best lists that sure be used as horror sure bets lists by you as you help leisure readers ad make purchasing decisions.

The first one is obviously reader driven, The Goodreads Choice Awards for Horror. Click here for the winner and the finalists. These are horror titles that real readers, all across the country, read and loved this year. This list needs to be used as a horror collection development tool for your library. These are proven winners that made it through multiple rounds of voting, titles that will go over well in any public library in America.

The second resource is not overtly reader driven. It is the NPR Best Books Concierge. This list is a favorite of mine because it puts all of the best books into a single pile and then allows the user of the list to customize the results-- thus making the results list reader driven.

I also enjoy how they filters are not just genre labels, but rather, based on actual reader tastes.  So, if you click on "the dark side," you get a list of all of the NPR staff's best books that could appeal to your horror fans.

This filter expands the definition of "horror," yes, but that can only help you to see the genre's reach into other areas (including nonfiction). And when you think more widely about what "horror" is, you will able to develop better collections and serve more potential horror readers.

Everyone wins.

Check back next week for more year in review posts here on the horror blog.